"Talkin' bout my generation..."

I recently picked up a curious read from the library entitled, "Generation Debt: Why Now is the Worst Time To Be Young" by a sharp 24 year-old Yale grad by the name of Anya Kamenetz, who's actually already been nominated for a pulitzer. As the title indicates, it's a bit of a depressing read for someone in their mid-twenties, at least thus far. I'm only about a third of the way through and realize it's written very much with an agenda, but Anya's done her homework and some of the facts alone are startling. The bulk of her premise goes to great lengths to defend the bad rap that's been placed upon 18-34 year old's and their inability to grow up to become what the boomer generation would consider productive members of society, earning them the moniker "adultlescents."

The reason for this stunted maturity is not related to apathy, misdirection or even a lack of education. Instead, Kremenetz argues, the reason so many in thier twenties and early thirties are ten years behind the indepence of their parents generation is largely economic. Adjusted for inflation, the price of being an "adult" has skyrocketed astronomically while income, adjusted accordingly, simply has not. Quoting Frank Furstenberg, she explains:

"'More youth are extending education, living at home longer, and moving haltingly, or stopping altogether, along the stepping stones of adulthood...A new period of life is emerging in which young people are no longer adolescents but not yet adults...It is simply not possible for most young people to achieve economic and psychological autonomy as early as it was a half century ago."

Kremenetz brings up a startling case in point:

"...when the Boomers were entering the workforce in 1970, the nation's largest private employer was General Motors. They paid an average wage of $17.50 an hour in today's dollars. The largest employer in the postindustrial economy is Wal-Mart. Their average wage? Eight dollars an hour."

Yeah...that's not good. Ask any recent college grad if they've had to settle for FAR less than their ideal entry-level job and they'll confirm the overall Eeyore vibe of this book. There's plenty of statistical data here to back up the bad news, I'm just hoping for a heck of a silver lining to balance things out. Something tells me I may be expecting a bit too much.

More to come, to be sure...

So we've fallen off the blogging planet lately. Both of our old laptops died slow and painful deaths. They may still be usable for email, but that's about all. Realizing we'd need something eventually, especially with Katie teaching in the fall, we started to budget for a new machine. Then one day last week I happened across a blurb on my company's HR site about interest free employee computer loans. Since I'm a big fan of computers and not a big fan of interst (at least the kind you have to pay), I ordered a little somethin' somethin' last week on the net...and it just arrived.



There are so many cool gadgets on this thing right out of the box, but Katie's favorite so far is the built in camera. She's been snapping candid pics all morning. I like the comic book effect. Make's me feel like a superhero or something. OK, we're weird, but now that we're back on the net, you should be hearing more from us in the future.

We've been bad at this lately. :)

What's new? Well, I am working at Noah's again for the summer, and Michael is pondering his next steps as far as careers go. He is still at First Tech until then. I am currently sitting in the living room upstairs watching Karli make Ania laugh. It's a slow Saturday morning. The boys have headed off to an elder meeting. It's wonderful...living here. We feel so blessed. I can't believe we have lived here this long. It's nuts.

Some new things the Alpernardo house:
1. We felt compelled to start a newbie homegroup for those Evergreeners that have been coming but haven't found a homegroup yet. We have been doing this for a couple weeks now. It's awesome- meeting and learning new people's stories.
2. I got my first teaching job teaching at a middle school about 15 miles north of downtown Portland. I will be teaching 7th and 8th grade students Language Arts and Drama. What fun!
3. Ania is sitting in a little walker-thingy. She feels so big! Her feet just run rampant under that, although it's not moving at all. She is getting really big. For pics, see: www.leonardopics.blogspot.com
4. My parents have started blogs and it's been fun to read them.
5. We've really felt blessed and needed at our community lately. Tons of things happening all around us and unfolding before us, God is really doing some healing and restoration at Evergreen.
6. We're just enjoying one another, Michael and me. We're having a great time and feel like we're dating all over. I love love.

Katie